Part of the appeal of a seasonal sales tax is that it would shift the cost of paying for public services to non-resident visitors.

Of course visitors do pay state taxes on fuel, alcohol,
and tobacco as well as local sales taxes and hotel taxes in many Alaska
communities. They also pay a share of local property taxes since businesses
pass those taxes on to their customers.

The interesting question is what share of a seasonal
sales tax would be shifted to non-resident visitors and what share
would be paid by Alaska residents.Based on information from the Alaska
Visitor Industry on the number of visitors and their expenditures,
we estimate that roughly 7 percent
of annual sales are made by non-residents. If all those sales occured
during that 5 month summer season during which a seasonal sales tax
were imposed, about 15 percent of the tax would be paid by non-residents.

The exact percentage of course depends upon a number
of factors, including what items are included in the tax, whether services
are taxed, etc. Visitors
of course do not make the same purchases as residents.

A seasonal sales tax in effect for the 5 months of the
tourist season would generate slightly less than half the amount that
a sales tax in effect for
the entire year would produce. Thus in order to generate a target
amount of revenue, the seasonal sales tax rate would need to be twice
that
of an annual sales tax.

A seasonal sales tax raises a number of other issues
such as: how would resident purchasing patterns be disrupted (shifting
of purchases into
the
winter
months), what would be the cost to businesses of administering
the tax, could residents receive a credit for seasonal sales taxes
paid,.etc.